


Up the long, delirious, burning blue

by ThatOnePlatypus



Series: on laughter-silvered wings [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Colonnello-Centric, Developing Friendships, Dragons, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Arcobaleno Curse, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-06-26 09:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19765024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOnePlatypus/pseuds/ThatOnePlatypus
Summary: After the curse was broken, Colonello hoped to rekindle his romance with Lal Mirch. After being rejected, he's not sure what he's supposed to do anymore.Enter Skull.-“Okay,” Skull said, nodding as though the shrug had been a whole novel on his feelings. “Want to talk about it, or want me to get my secret stash and get wasted?”“You have a secret stash?” Colonnello couldn’t help but ask, disbelieving.“Duh,” Skull said, looking a bit amused. “How else do you think I coped all those years with you lot?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Here is the long awaited, promised 'post curse breaking, colonnello centric' spin off!  
> I hope you will all enjoy it!  
> Cheers!

Colonnello’s chin was resting on the table, his eyes on the two tickets in his hands. He sighed mournfully, the sound being the only thing that was heard in the house.

After the Curse had broken, he had hoped to rekindle his romance with Lal Mirch immediately. However, those hopes had been quickly dashed. Lal had wanted to take some time apart. She had explained that she needed the break. She needed time alone, time to sort out her feelings. More importantly, she needed to be away from the reminders of the painful time stuck as children, to finally make her peace with it.

Understandably, Colonnello was one such reminder. 

Still. Although he understood, it still hurt. After so many years spent waiting for a chance to be together again, he had hoped…

Another mournful sigh escaped him. Once Lal had rejected him, giving him her decision to take a break, the blond hadn’t known what to do, where to go. Mafia Land was a big _No_ since it would only be full of memories and trouble that he didn’t want to deal with. The CEDEF was obviously a no as well.

Eventually, he had settled for going back to the old Arcobaleno house, knowing it would probably be empty and that he could spend his time alone, pining. The first few days alone had been nice, quiet, but now- now he found himself kind of lonely.

A fact that the two tickets in his hands seemed to cruelly remind to him, each time he gazed at them.

“Yo!” Someone suddenly shouted from outside the house, and Colonnello startled. “Anyone here?”

The blond raised his head, surprised to hear Skull’s voice. The sound of the front door being kicked open sounded through the whole house, followed by the Cloud’s cheerful humming. The man came into the kitchen, in all his biking-piercing-purple glory, helmet under his arm and Oodako somehow clinging to his shoulder. Realizing he wasn’t alone, he paused.

“Oh,” Skull blinked at seeing Colonnello. He greeted, still cheerful but clearly a bit wary, “Hey. Didn’t expect to see you there.”

“Same to you,” Colonnello answered, leaning back a bit in his chair. “What are you doing here?”

“Hm, I was passing by, needed a place to crash, thought ‘ _why not_ ’ and here I am,” Skull said, shrugging.

He put his helmet down on the counter, and glanced into the fridge. Grimacing at the fact that it was pretty much empty, he closed it, and settled for getting a glass of water. Once he had his drink, he hopped on the counter, swinging his legs and looking at the blond curiously. Oodako, from his perch, mimicked the swinging with two tentacles.

“So. How you doin’?” Skull asked, somehow managing to sound like he both was actually interested in the answer and couldn’t care less.

Colonnello shrugged, because _frankly_? He was doing pretty bad. Skull probably had noticed the dark circles under his eyes, despite not being the smartest Arcobaleno, and it wouldn’t take a genius to guess that if he was sulking here all alone, he wasn’t at his best. No way he was going to admit that aloud, though.

“Okay,” Skull said, nodding as though the shrug had been a whole novel on his feelings. “Want to talk about it, or want me to get my secret stash and get wasted?”

“You have a secret stash?” Colonnello couldn’t help but ask, disbelieving.

“Duh,” Skull said, looking a bit amused. “How else do you think I coped all those years with you lot?”

Colonnello, had he been his usual self, would probably have smacked the other. Or shot him. Or kicked him. Or- well, he would have hurt him for being so cheeky and disrespectful. As it was, he felt like shit, and much more sympathetic than he usually would have been. He probably looked like shit, too, and Skull was – maybe – just trying to help. So the Rain snorted, admitting the point.

As proved by his train of thoughts, he usually was a dick with Skull, and so were the others. Especially Reborn. And he had pretty much emulated Reborn after being Cursed. So, yeah. Colonello thought that the Cloud was justified in having a stash of alcohol somewhere to deal with it.

“I didn’t think we pushed you to alcoholism,” he still said, wryly.

“Please, as if anyone could know you guys and remain sober,” Skull said, just as wry.

Colonnello couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him at that because, yeah. He could somewhat relate. Catching the small smile quirking Skull’s lips, the blond wondered once more if the man was actually trying to cheer him up. Apparently so.

Huh. He didn’t think Skull actually cared enough for any of them, given how terrible they were with him, to try to cheer them up.

It said something about his state of mind that he was feeling somewhat touched by the gesture, instead of annoyed like he might have been. Empathy came with misery, apparently.

“Nah,” he eventually said, “keep your stash to yourself. You never know when you might need it.”

“True, I guess,” Skull said. He seemed to hesitate for a second, before gesturing to the tickets. “You mind me asking what these are for?”

“I-” Colonnello glanced at the tickets, the ones that he had hoped to use for Lal and him. He had bought them with his own money, for a nice surprise, and now- “I’m not sure you’d know. If I say Quidditch?”

Skull almost fell off the counter. As it was, he only managed to catch himself and almost choke on his water, coughing harshly. Oodako flailed on his shoulder, panicked. Colonnello stared at the stuntman. He couldn’t help but start to grin a little when Skull started to wheeze, water clearly having gone in the wrong pipe.

“That’s an extreme reaction,” he commented, amused.

“Glad you find enjoyment in my misery, as always,” Skull managed to wheeze out, trying, and failing, to glare at him. He rubbed his chest, taking a deep breath, before absently petting his octopus. “Sorry ‘bout that. I was just surprised. I didn’t know you had ties with the magical folk.”

“From your reaction, I’d say you have some as well,” Colonnello pointed out. Skull shrugged, not denying it, but not saying anything – to be fair, given that he had mentioned them, it was obvious that Skull at least _knew_ of their existence. The blond went on, feeling in the mood to share, “I actually found out about the magical society pretty much by accident and luck. I was searching for ways to break the curse, and well. Found a guy that was a curse-breaker.”

“Ah,” Skull nodded, grimacing, “Yeah, I searched that way too.”

Neither of them needed to ask to know that it had yielded no result, only false hope and more disappointment. Skull took a small sip of water, carefully swallowing it before asking.

“The others are aware of the magical community too, then?” He wondered.

“Lal is, somewhat,” Colonnello nodded, “I told her about it, while I made my research. Reborn is aware as well- I think he found out the same way I did. No clue about Verde, Fon or Mammon, though.”

Mammon, now that Colonnello was thinking about it, probably knew as well. If one person out of all the mafia had magical blood, it would probably be the miser. In any case, Mammon was an information broker, and the best at it – if one forgot the price. They probably knew about the magical society that lived in a mutual-secrecy-and-peace-agreement with the mafia. Omerta, Statute of Secrecy… Same thing, if you were feeling lucky.

Skull though- well, if there was one person he didn’t think would know about it, it was the ex-civilian stuntman. How the hell had he managed that?

“I’m surprised _you_ know about it,” Colonnello voiced, looking at the Cloud. “Not many in the mafia know.”

“I know,” Skull said, shrugging. “I guess you can say I’ve got a lot of friends in a lot of places.”

Which, while vague, was fair enough. Skull wasn’t obligated to give his sources – Colonnello hadn’t, after all. Maybe the Cloud was finally learning the ropes, after all those years. The stuntman turned back to the tickets, now doubly curious.

“So, Quidditch,” he said. “I take it you like it?”

“Surprisingly, yeah,” Colonnello admitted, with a slight grin, “Contact of mine was always talking about it, I got fed up, they took me to a match and well-” He shrugged in a _what can you do_ manner- “It’s fun.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Skull nodded, grinning as well – and Colonnello was a bit taken aback, he hadn’t expected Skull to actually be genuinely interested in the topic. “What’s your favourite team?”

“Thundelarra Thunderers,” Colonnello immediately replied, “They’re great!”

“An Aussie? Really?” Skull said, looking mock-offended. “Come on, where’s your national pride? Aren’t you Italian?”

“Please, the Italian teams _suck_ ,” Colonnello snorted. “Besides _you_ ’re not even Italian!”

“Very true,” Skull snickered.

“What’s _your_ favourite team, then?” Colonnello asked.

“Ah, that’s tough,” Skull said, grinning, “I used to be a Chudley Canon supporter-” at Colonnello’s clueless look, he explained- “A tiny, loser team of the UK. A friend of mine was a staunch supporter and I didn’t know enough so...” He shrugged, then went on. “But now, I’m torn between the National Bulgarian and the Holyhead Harpies.”

“Ah,” Colonnello nodded, remembering the two teams somewhat – he liked the sport, but he didn’t know enough to know more than the basics, really. “The Harpies are an all-female team, right? UK?”

“That’s the one,” Skull said. He hummed, looking once more at the tickets. “You’re going to a Quidditch match with Lal, then, I guess? Which match?”

Colonnello didn’t answer immediately. For a moment, simply talking with Skull about Quidditch, he had managed to forget a little about Lal. It had been nice. But now- Somehow sensing his mood, Skull hesitantly said.

“If you don’t-” he started.

“No, I’m good,” he said. “Lal just wants some time to think things through. I guess getting back together so soon after the Curse was too much.” He chuckled humourlessly. “I mean, we weren’t even sure I’d get back to my normal size, and I was already talking marriage. I guess it’d scare away anyone.”

“Oh,” Skull said a bit awkwardly.

“So I was thinking of throwing those-” he waved the tickets- “away, but with the price I paid to get them from my contact...” He huffed, looking at the offending pieces of paper. “Vratsa Vultures against Toyohashi Tengu. For tonight.”

He looked over at Skull. Skull, whom he didn’t particularly like, and whom he was certain didn’t like him either. Skull who, for some reason, had stopped in the kitchen to talk to him upon seeing that he wasn’t feeling well. Skull who had made him feel less lonely for the first time in days, and forget Lal as well, if only for a moment.

In a spur of the moment decision, he asked.

“You want to come with me, since I’ve got a spare ticket?”

Skull stared at him, looking genuinely stunned. Then, hesitantly, he stood up, and took the second ticket out of Colonnello’s fingers, inspecting it. Eventually, he turned to the blond, and grinned.

“Sure,” he said, “The Tengus are a good team.”

Colonnello grinned back, feeling a weight lift a little from his shoulders – had he really been so lonely? But then, Skull asked, cocking his head.

“So, your contact gave you a portkey to the stadium too?” He asked.

Portkey – right, instant transport, the ‘hook behind the navel’ thing that was so uncomfortable. Colonnello blinked. Looked at the ticket, clearly saying the match would start that same evening in Bulgaria. Shit. He stared at the ticket blankly. Then back at Skull – who was looking at him with a slowly growing wry smile on his lips, clearly guessing the answer.

They were in Italy. The match started in a few hours. He _didn’t_ have a portkey – his contact hadn’t even mentioned the transport, and usually Colonnello tagged along with a wizard contact so he wasn’t in charge. It wasn’t like he even _knew_ how to arrange magical transport.

Fuck, he _knew_ he had forgotten something. Groaning, he slammed his head on the table.

Skull, that bastard, burst out laughing.

“Come on,” the stuntman said cheerfully, clasping Colonnello’s shoulder, “I’ll get us there. You’re providing the tickets, after all, it’s only fair.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Colonnello asked dubiously.

“Well,” Skull grinned a tad too widely for it to be reassuring, “Have you ever taken the floo?”

* * *

The floo, Colonnello had known on some level, was travel between one fireplace to another, via magic powder. It also sounded terribly weird and unpractical, since apparently you would get soot all over yourself.

The reality of the matter was _much_ worse, in his opinion. It was disorienting, dirty, and _terrible_. He had stumbled out of the fireplace coughing, and kissed the floor with all the elegance of a new born foal. Skull stumbling out of the fireplace and pretty much tripping on him made it just a tiny bit better. Just a tiny bit.

“Do I want to know _how_ we had a floo connection in the house?” Colonnello grumbled as he dusted himself.

Skull chuckled, but didn’t answer. Instead, they both headed out of the National Bulgarian Floo Port – and _really_ , Colonnello thought, he would never get used to those magical things, to the secret society hidden underneath everyone’s nose – and into the streets. The Rain almost didn’t see it, but a nudge from his companion directed his attention to a weirdly painted cab parked nearby. He blinked, feeling a sort of fog lifting from his brain.

“Mist flames?” He wondered aloud.

“Don’t think so,” Skull answered, even as he gestured to the driver, who was smoking near the car. “Didn’t your contact explain types of magic? Like wards, privacy charms, notice-me-not, muggle-repelling, that sort of things?”

“Ah, yeah,” Colonnello nodded slowly. It _had_ been mentioned, but it hadn’t stuck much. “I honestly remember just the basics. It’s just so mind-boggling.”

“I know,” Skull grinned. “Magic is great.”

He greeted the cab driver in flawless Bulgarian, and mentioned the Quidditch match and something about a malfunctioning portkey – Colonnello’s Bulgarian was far from being fresh, especially in magical terms, but he _thought_ that was what was being said. The driver nodded his head, accepted the coins that Skull handed him, and soon the Rain and Cloud were sitting at the back of the vehicle.

“Right,” Skull said, softly, in Italian again. (Colonnello found himself wondering why the Cloud was always accommodating him. Wasn’t Skull Romanian?) “So, if I were you, I’d put the safety belt. Magical transports are _never_ nice and calm. Not even vehicles.”

Colonnello had just barely the time to do as recommended, when the cab suddenly lurched forward, then sped off – at what felt like light speed. Skull gave a delighted whoop, and the blond suddenly remembered that the man _lived_ for life-threatening stunts in vehicles.

Damn him, and damn those magicals!

He might have started cursing or attacking, if he hadn’t been so busy fearing for his life and clinging to his seat with all his might.

* * *

When they arrived to the stadium, barely thirty minutes later, Colonnello threw himself out of the cab, privately convinced that there had never been a better sight than the open air around him. And the ground. Still, not moving, perfectly stable ground.

He heard Skull say something to the driver, then the cab disappeared, zooming in the distance. Like a demented chariot of hell. If Colonello never saw it again it would still be too soon. Skull grinned at his companion, clearly greatly amused by his pale face.

“I’m _never_ doing that again,” Colonnello hissed, glaring at the Cloud. “ _Never_.”

“And how are we supposed to get back?” Skull asked, eyes _twinkling_ with mirth. (Screw him. Seriously.)

“I don’t care, we’ll walk,” Colonnello said, “Hell, we’ll even _swim_ back to Italy if we have to. But I’m _not_ taking another magical way of transport. And I thought portkeys were the worst!”

“I did warn you,” Skull said, “Every way of transport, except perhaps flying, is terrible the magical way.”

“That was an _understatement_ ,” Colonnello told him.

Skull, still being a bastard (clearly Colonnello hadn’t been in his right mind when he had invited him to this event, and was now living to see the Cloud take revenge for all the years of mistreatment), laughed.

* * *

The stadium was set in a dark foggy castle, somehow bigger in the inside than the outside. Colonnello had learned a long time ago that magic didn’t make sense, and simply rolled with it. Skull, it seemed, had the same policy because he didn’t even blink at all the fantastic things around them. The moving pictures and goodies, the floating things, the things that broke at least three laws of nature and then some… Skull didn’t look surprised, or even awed, and Colonnello guessed that this clearly wasn’t his first time at a Quidditch match.

Although, he should have guessed it from the way the other man knew his way around the magical community. It was kind of impressive, really. Colonnello wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it, so to see Skull be so at ease… Well, it was a bit embarrassing, given that the man still had trouble navigating the mafia sometimes.

“Oh, Omnioculars,” Skull said, nudging him to look at a salesperson that was handing out odd binoculars out. “Want one?”

“I have no clue what they are,” the blond admitted. Even though he wasn’t _new_ at all of this, he was far from an expert, knowing only the basics. He had always been happy letting his contacts guide him around.

“It’s like binoculars, but that record the whole match, can replay some parts slower, tell you about the moves made, the players, and such… It’s great, especially when the players are far, and later you can rewatch the match at home slowly with break by break account of everything,” the stuntman explained. He grinned at him, “So, want one?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Colonnello said. He looked around at the stadium, full of groups either in dark blue and white, or red and dark grey, then at his tickets. “Free placement. Where do we go?”

“We’re supporting the Tengus?” Skull asked, looking around as well.

“Yeah, I guess,” the Rain nodded.

“Then let’s go there,” Skull said, pointing to a group of blue and white Tengu fans that looked pretty hyped.

They wormed their way near the group, who greeted them with enthusiasm, asking in excited japanese if they were Tengu fans. When they replied by the affirmative, the group welcomed them with shouts of delight, and started the introductions. Colonnello soon found himself with a blue and white scarf around his neck, courtesy of one of the fans, and laughed when he saw Skull getting more make-up over his face, as well as a blue hat.

Skull took to it with grace and enthusiasm, chattering away with the fans while they painted the blue and white on his cheeks. Apparently they all were from Nara, and had come to Bulgaria for the only purpose of seeing their favourite team play.

How was _that_ for dedication.

“Ah!” One girl whose hair was flashing between white, blue and black, exclaimed, “It’s starting!”

And indeed, it was. The two teams flew on the stadium, the commentator shouting their names and positions in Bulgarian and Japanese, and then a big count down appeared in the air, made of golden sparks. 3… 2… 1…

The balls were released, and the game started immediately. Colonnello found himself swiped into the Tengu fan’s enthusiasm, and cheering when they were, and booing when they were.

Then, maybe thirty minutes into the play – or maybe three hours, because those things made him lose track of time, Skull suddenly tensed, eyes going to a corner of the stadium. Colonnello followed his gaze, and- was that golden?

“Oh,” he said, registering what he had just seen – and clearly, from the way Skull’s eyes were darting around, he was following it’s trail as well. “Good eyes!”

“Same to you,” Skull replied, grinning.

Soon enough, though, his attention was distracted by one particularly vicious play between the team. The whole group of fans seemed to be holding their breath, when suddenly- one Tengu dropped from his broom, only the quick reflexes of his team keeping him in the air.

The crowd went wild.

“Foul!” Skull bellowed, along with the group next to them, “That vicious, cheating bastard! Foul!”

“What happened?” Colonnello asked, bewildered.

“A Vulture grabbed his broom by the tail, and broke some twigs, and then gave a kick to the chaser,” another fan replied, outraged, before resuming howling with Skull and the others, “Foul!”

The referee thankfully stopped the match and gave a warning to the offender, and the play resumed. Somehow, the Tengu fans seemed even more fired up.

“Come on!” Skull hollered next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders and pumping his fist in the air, not even looking at Colonnello as he shouted, “Come on, get that Quaffle!”

Colonnello, despite the manhandling and the shouting in his ears, grinned.

And when the Tengus managed to score, he was right there with Skull and the others, whooping and screaming in approval.

* * *

The play ended with 280-120 for the Tengus. The resulting victory party that the Japanese supporters threw was completely insane, in Colonnello’s opinion. Mixing sports fans and alcohol wasn’t a good idea on a normal day. Adding magic to the mix was a whole new level of madness. Why he let Skull and the other fans drag him to the party still eluded him.

Not that he _really_ regretted it – the party, although crazy, was also hilarious, and great fun. Still, Colonnello vowed there and then to never touch a drop of magical alcohol ever again. Just one cup of Sakusake was enough to make him dizzy.

“Holy shit,” he breathed, after almost inhaling his first sip of sake wrong. “That stuff is _strong_!”

“Well yeah,” Skull laughed, sipping on his own cup as if it wasn’t the equivalent of ten shots of vodka in one tiny cup. “Magicals have an absurdly strong alcohol tolerance, so they need stronger stuff. I never had Sakusake before, though!” He took another sip, and grinned. “I like it!”

Almost to congratulate him for that opinion, sakura petals started falling around him, and Skull laughed. Colonnello suddenly realized that the same thing was happening all around them – anyone drinking Sakusake was under a soft rain of pink petals. The blond blinked at his own cup, and at the lack of petals above him, wondering if he was deducing the appearance of the petals wrong.

“Why aren’t there petals for me?” He asked Skull (and no, he wasn’t pouting in disappointment, despite what Skull would later claim), who he had decided was the authority in magical matters between the two of them.

For some reason, the Cloud was ever patient and explained things clearly when asked. He didn’t make fun of Colonnello for wondering about things, and the blond appreciated it. His contacts were usually a bit – a lot – condescending when he asked questions, and it discouraged him pretty fast from asking things.

“Is it because I don’t have magic?” He asked, a bit quieter – making sure no one heard that bit.

“Nah, everyone has _some_ ambient magic. It’s always enough to activate that kind of charms. It’s probably your flames,” Skull said, shaking his head to make the thin layer of pink fall off his hair. He looked at the blond. “Try to control them so that they don’t interact with the spell.”

Colonnello hummed, understanding. It was true that his magical contacts _had_ told him that flames and magic sometimes mixed badly. Rain flames would slow the magic and sometimes prevent it from making effect. Tightening his hold on his flames, the blond took another sip, just to see- And grinned when sakura petals started falling on him too.

“Congrats!” Skull grinned at him. He was sipping – was that his _fourth_ cup of sake, holy fuck, “You like the sake?”

“I like the petals,” Colonnello admitted, still grinning at the somewhat simple but still great display of magic. He then grimaced a little. “But I think I’ll revert to normal alcohol. I can’t handle that stuff too much.” He eyed Skull. “How do _you_ handle it?”

“I’m used to it,” Skull told him, taking yet another sip – the area around him was getting pinker by the second. As was, in fact, the whole party area. He grinned. “One day, I’ll make you try out firewhiskey! It’s amazing.”

“Let me guess,” Colonnello said wryly, “It’s whiskey, but ten times stronger and that makes… fire appear?”

“Makes you _breathe_ fire,” Skull corrected with a grin.

“Sounds crazy,” Colonnello said.

“It’s magic,” Skull said back.

Colonnello snorted, looking at the Japanese fans, who were now dancing in the sakura petals and making fireworks and colourful things appear from seemingly thin air. He could see a few of them waving wands, and others seemed to rely on some kind of jewelry or other things to cast spells. One woman was using a fan (the air-making, paper and wood kind, not the sports supporter one) to make paper dragons appear and dance around in the air.

Magic, crazy… Same thing.

Amazing, though.

Then people started getting a bit naked, and he amended his statement. That was one view of the Tengu fans that he could have lived without.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed, leave a small comment! Cheers!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I'm completely thrown by how much you guys liked the first chapter! I'm sorry I can't reply to most of you - life is busy, as always.
> 
> A reminder for those of you who asked, and various answers:
> 
> \- Yes, it's Colonnello-centric, fully and entirely, for the whole spin off.  
> \- No, the other arcobalenos won't show up.  
> \- Yes, there will be one (1) reveal.  
> \- ...I hate that I didn't include Teddy in this, but I didn't. It's my mistake, guys, sorry, cute bugger (now grown) won't make an appearance at all. (But thanks for the idea, might have to find the time to write a small os in this verse about it!)  
> \- Most of your questions will be answered in the following chapters (of which, yes, there are only five, but that's already plenty)  
> \- how far post curse is the story? Not that far. They all look just as they did right before being cursed. Adult, but young. Not babies, certainly!
> 
> Again, thank you for all of you who left comments! You made my days! I may not have the time to reply, but I swear, I read every comment, and I love all of you who took the time to write them! Even those of you who left just a small heart emoji - it's already a lot!

Colonnello insisted on them _not_ going back to the Arcobaleno house by magical means. Not only did he feel a bit hangover (something that hadn’t happened in _decades_ , which went to show how strong that magical alcohol was), but he didn’t have any previous engagement, meaning they could take their time.

And take the plane.

Or the train.

Hell, stealing a car would work too, as long as they didn’t take a portkey. Or the floo. Or, heavens forbid, that magical cab again. He would sooner highjack a helicopter than set even a toe-nail inside that thing again.

Skull, proving yet again that he was truly a bastard (how had Colonnello missed it for all those years was beyond him), laughed at his determination and teasingly suggested that they could try the magical _bus_.

The Rain was many things, but he fancied himself a bit smarter than that. So he denied the offer, frantically, although a part of him was morbidly curious. If the cab had been so horrible, how much _worse_ would the bus be? He resolved to try on a day when he felt much braver, and masochistic. Maybe drunk, as well.

“So,” Skull said at the back of the _normal_ cab they had taken to the airport. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes,” Colonnello admitted readily.

It _had_ been a lot of fun. From the match, to the after party, to the company and the atmosphere. There was something about simply letting go and shouting at flying broomsticks, and then drink alcohol that made flowers appear, that was oddly therapeutic.

Surprisingly, he had enjoyed Skull’s company a lot, finding that when the man wasn’t acting as his usual pathetic, whiny, arrogant self, he was in fact a great guy to have around when having fun. In fact, Skull hadn’t been anywhere near his usual level of annoying. The Cloud had just been helpful, and friendly. Huh. Odd. What would Lal say, if she knew?

With some surprise, and a little pang that was a mix of relief and guilt, Colonnello realized that he hadn’t thought of Lal since the moment they had left the Arcobaleno house.

It was refreshing, in a way, and the blond wondered what he had been thinking, going to that place of all places. He had many safe-houses around the world. Going to the Arcobaleno house was like asking for depressing thoughts about Lal and him. No wonder he had been moping.

“I haven’t had so much fun in a while,” the Rain eventually went on, smiling a little, determined to leave the depressing thoughts behind. “I guess it was time I took a holiday, huh?”

“It certainly never hurts,” Skull agreed. He was looking out of the window and at the streets they drove by, a small thoughtful expression on his face. “I mean, how long has it been since you took time to just relax and do something you wanted to?”

Colonnello frowned. Now that he thought of it, it had been a very long time. The curse had him throwing himself at work to try and forget about his condition. He had taken jobs, and more jobs, and even more jobs. Mafia Land might have been a resort, but it was his working place first and foremost. And any outing he did had been either with the curse in mind, or for Lal.

How long had it been since he had done something for himself, just because he wanted to? Not because of the curse, not for his work, not for Lal? He couldn’t remember.

“I suppose you’re right,” he mumbled, more to himself than for Skull. He wondered, looking at the stuntman, “I haven’t asked you, by the way, but what are you doing these days?”

Meaning, since the curse broke. He was curious to know, actually, given that the man had been a civilian before, and now… He couldn’t really get out of the mafia, but at the same time he might be trying. Skull turned to look at him, and gave him a small bemused look. Eventually, though, he shrugged, and answered.

“This and that,” he said vaguely, mindful of the civilian driver at the front of the cab. “I broke my contract with my previous employers,” meaning the Carcassa Famiglia, “and got another with another larger company. The pay is good, and the missions are few and far in between so it’s nice. Leaves me with free time to do what I want.”

He seemed truly happy with this arrangement, whatever it was. Colonnello wondered what Famiglia he was allied to now, though. It had to be a strong one, if the Carcassa wasn’t giving Skull shit for leaving. Or maybe they had, but the Cloud didn’t care. Who knew, with Skull.

“You started doing shows again?” Colonnello couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah,” Skull grinned at that, clearly delighted by that fact. “Got in touch with my previous crew, and got back on stage! I thought it would be weird and stuff, but it’s great, it’s as if nothing happened!”

“Yeah?” Colonnello said, once again taken aback by how much more genuine Skull’s whole demeanour felt. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Skull beamed, “I’ve got a show in three days in Romania, and then every night for two weeks. I can’t wait!”

“That’s great,” the Rain said, and then, curious, “So you’re heading to Romania once we’re at the airport?”

“Without my bike? And Oodako?” Skull asked, amused. “Nah, I’m going back to the Arcobaleno house with you, grabbing my stuff, and then I’m driving to Romania.”

Colonnello nodded, admitting the point. Skull _had_ left his stuff at the house, after all. So had he, for that matter. Both Oodako and Falco were there – although Falco could just fly to him.

The blond looked through the window. It seemed that Skull had plans, unlike him. Truthfully, he had no clue what he was supposed to do now.

He supposed he would see once he was back at the house.

* * *

Somehow, Colonnello ended up riding to Romania with Skull.

The why and how were quite simple. They had come back, Colonnello had been indecisive, and had blurted out to a leaving Skull that he would be interested in seeing his show. Skull had blinked, stunned, before smiling at him in that frankly _sparkling_ way that the Rain was pretty sure he had never seen before the Quidditch match.

After that, well, Colonnello couldn’t very well retract his words, as spur of the moment as they had been.

It was how he found himself clutching Skull from behind, wearing a biking jacket and a helmet that Skull had purchased just for him, as the stuntman sped by the roads. If the speed and the sometimes too-sharp turns that Skull took had scared Colonnello a bit, after two hours of driving, a small break on the side of the road had him ready for more.

Two hours and another break later, and the Rain would admit to reluctantly liking the trip.

It was yet another two hours again, after they stopped once again to grab a bite, that he grudgingly told Skull that it was nice. The Cloud, always taking every opportunity to prove that he was a bastard (and Colonnello had been about to forget it, too), had the gall to give him an innocent, clueless look and ask him what, exactly, was nice.

“You know exactly what,” Colonnello accused, pointing his fork at the man in a vaguely threatening manner.

“No I don’t,” Skull said, (as if the blond couldn’t see the tiny quiver of his lips and the merry twinkle in his eyes, proof that he _was_ fucking with him. The fact that he kept an amazingly straight face made him wonder how many times Skull had done such a thing before without him realizing), “The dish, or the view?”

Colonnello shook his head, and took a bite of his food to prevent himself from exploding. He was a Rain. He was calm, and composed, and the other was just doing that for his own vicious amusement. Because Skull was a bastard, and Colonnello had clearly decided to come with him on this trip because of a brief lapse in judgment.

Possibly the hangover’s fault. Not that he was feeling it anymore, but with magical alcohol you never knew. What had he been thinking, going on a motorcycle trip to _Romania_ with _Skull_?

Shaking his head, he went back to the topic at hand.

“While the food and the scenery are nice too,” Colonnello said, because damn it he was not going to react, no he was not taking the bait, “I was talking about the trip.”

Skull laughed, not even hiding his amusement anymore. Colonnello would have thrown something at his head for that, but instead decided to take another bite of his food. The stuntman grinned at him, and the blond rolled his eyes. He reluctantly grinned as well, though, when Skull overtly fed Oodako a few things. Falco, perched nearby, was looking envious, but too proud to ask.

Skull seemed to be very amused by that too, and fed the bird as well, grinning wider when Falco ate the fries like he was starving. Colonnello was starting to believe the stuntman lived in a constant state of amusement – at the expense of others, clearly.

(No, he refused to think that it was a very hypocritical thought.)

For a long moment, they simply lapsed into a comfortable silence, eating and looking around. Siòfok was a nice city, if a bit large and too full of tourists. The two Arcobalenos had decided on a small restaurant with a view on the Lake Balaton, parking the motorbike nearby while they had lunch. Colonnello wondered if the breaks every two hours were for his sake, of if Skull would stop that often even alone.

“Verona to Bucharest is quite the long trip,” Skull eventually said, still smiling but a bit more serious, “It’s good that you’re comfortable.”

“I guess it is,” Colonnello agreed, chuckling when Falco eyed his plate with envy. He pushed a slice of steak towards his companion, before commenting, “I never realized how much you can miss by taking the plane.”

“If you say that when we’ve been taking the big roads, I can’t imagine what you would say if we took the smaller ones,” Skull said, “There’s something different about simply driving by small villages and cities, and simply stopping wherever you feel like, you know?”

“Well, no, I don’t,” Colonnello deadpanned. “Duh.”

“Never took a road-trip, then?” Skull grinned. His grin held some wonder, too, as if he couldn’t quite believe that, “I can’t imagine what you life must be like.”

“And I can’t imagine what _your_ life must be like,” Colonnello said back, a bit of bemusement in his smile. “I mean, do you drive _everywhere_?”

“When I can, or feel like it,” Skull said. “It depends, really.” He looked over the lake, taking a bite of his food. “I used to- well, I say that, but I still do it- to just take my bike, a bag of necessary stuff, and just leave. Just a note on the kitchen table to warn my family that I’d be back soon enough, and that I had my phone with me. I’d go wherever the wind took me.”

“Wherever the wind takes you, huh,” Colonnello said, softly, “I guess I forget you’re a Cloud, sometimes.”

“You’re not the first to tell me that,” Skull snorted. “No offense, but I think it’s pretty stupid. What do any of you know about Clouds?”

That – was pretty true, actually, Colonnello admitted to himself. There were very few Clouds in the mafia, and even less powerful ones. And like any flame user, each Cloud differed from the other. The only common point, the accepted reality, was that a Cloud were possessive, hated being restrained, and became dangerous when angered. Somehow, most people took that to mean that Clouds were scary beasts, unfriendly and aloof.

In the end, it _was_ pretty stupid to assume that. Clouds were the one element, with Skies, that people knew the less. What did Colonnello know of Clouds? Nothing, not much at least.

What did he know about Skull, on the other hand…

Well, nothing much either, it seemed.

Taking a bite of his fries, he resolved to change that, if only for the sake of curiosity.

* * *

The motor roared, the bike went speeding past, then up the ramp then _flying_ . Skull somehow brought both the bike and his own body at an impossible angle, _in the air_ , and for a few seconds it seemed as if the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for gravity to reclaim both man and engine.

It didn’t, the stuntman and the bike still soaring through the air as if they weighted nothing, and then – the crowd gasped, Colonnello did too – through a flaming hoop and a second, and a third, and then a _fourth_ . Finally, then, gravity seemed to remember it was supposed to make things go _down_ , and Skull fell.

Of course, at the last second, the bastard (he did it on purpose, he clearly relished in giving heart attacks), brought his bike back under him and the engine roared. It landed almost gracefully, and Skull bloody well made a _handstand_ while driving, even as the crowd exploded to life with applause and shouts of relieved awe.

Then, because obviously it wasn’t enough, Skull sped up again, and took another ramp, steeper than the last, and went flying again. High. High. Higher.

It seemed like he would never stop ascending, but then, at the peak of the jump, the man _let go_ of the bike and did a fucking _backflip_ , in the air. Then he caught his bike again, struck a pose, still in the air, before doing a handstand again. On his bike. Still in the air.

And of course, it wasn’t over, and the stuntman and his bike started falling again, straight towards the ground that was _so so far below_. No way he was going to survive that. No. Way.

Then, almost to make things worse, things started to fire _at_ the falling stuntman. Fireworks, strings, flamethrowers – all sort of special effects that, at this height, at this speed, could prove deadly. But Skull evaded them, maneuvering his bike around, _still in the air_ , as if he wasn’t freefalling, making it look _easy_ . Hell, he was still doing figures and poses all through the deadly fall, making the sort of gymnastic figures that Colonello associated with the Olympics – not with _Skull_.

The crowd was holding its breath, watching the fall, no one moving, morbidly waiting for the end-

Bike and man landed on the ground in a huge explosion that rattled the arena, the warmth felt by every watcher. They gasped, watching as flames and smoke surrounded what was probably a broken man and broken machine, waiting for it to disappear to confirm the terrible sight-

Skull drove out of the explosion, helmet under his arm, barely looking singed, with a shit-eating grin and an arm above his head in victory.

The crowd went wild, Colonnello standing with them despite himself, roaring with them.

It was official, he thought as the stuntman put his helmet on again, and started to build up speed again for what would probably be and _even more_ dangerous stunt. Skull was fucking insane.

And damn it, he was having fun but- _damn it_ it was bad for his heart rate.

* * *

“You,” Colonnello told his companion that very same evening, long after the show had let out, “Are fucking mad. How are you still alive?”

“Why, the great Skull-sama is immortal, of course,” Skull replied with a wide grin.

“I’m starting to actually believe that,” the blond muttered, before glaring at the other, “And drop the annoying bratty persona.”

Skull laughed, and took the towel around his shoulders to wipe down the droplets of water his damp hair was leaving on his neck. The stuntman was wearing casual clothes, a simple top and black trousers. Somehow, the make-up was still the same, and Colonnello was starting to think that it was a permanent fixture on Skull’s face. How else could he take a shower and not ruin it!

“So you noticed, huh?” Skull said, going to the mini-fridge in the kitchen area of the caravan that was apparently _his_.

“What, that the whole Japanese-suffixes and over the top flashiness were fake?” Colonnello said. He snorted. “Yeah. Obviously.”

“ _Obviously_ ,” Skull mimicked, teasing, “It only took you a few decades and me dropping the act for a few days for you to notice it was fake.”

“In my defense, you are _very good_ at being an annoying brat,” Colonnello pointed out, with a small grin.

“Still wouldn’t know if I didn’t let you,” Skull singsonged, sticking his tongue out before grabbing a soda and closing the fridge. He hopped on the counter, smirking at the blond. “You all may be the _Strongest_ seven, but you never were the _Smartest_ seven.”

Colonnello caught the first thing near his hand, and chucked it at the purple-haired man. Skull caught it with impressive reflexes, and looked at the object for a second. It was an apple. Shrugging, the stuntman bit into the fruit, amusement clear in his eyes when Colonnello huffed and sat down.

Truth be told, Skull was right. The Rain had only realized that Skull’s ‘usual self’ was an act when he had _literally_ acted it out in front of an audience earlier that day. It was embarrassing, and frankly shocking, to suddenly realize that he had spent _years_ thinking he knew exactly who Skull was. From his habits, to the way he moved, to his personality, weaknesses, fears… Reading people was a must in the mafia, and Colonnello liked to think he was good at it.

Apparently, not as good as he had thought. Skull had been introduced as a civilian, and they had expected him thus to be a coward, weak brat trying to play big and who was in over his head. Colonnello, though he hadn’t been there in the beginning, had simply taken Lal’s word, Reborn’s behaviour, and gone with it. Was it so surprising that Skull had played them all, when he had acted on their expectations?

“Do the others know?” Colonnello asked, (and no, he wasn’t sulking because he had been played. He had more pride than that. _Really_.).

“Viper does,” Skull shrugged. “Verde and Fon might have guessed, but if it’s the case they never commented on it. I’m pretty sure Lal and Reborn have no clue.”

“So, me and Viper for sure,” Colonnello said, slowly.

“You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?” Skull grinned.

Colonnello chucked another apple at the Cloud, who laughed as he caught it again.

Once more, he had a point. Colonnello knew Skull had an act. He didn’t know how much of what he knew had been so, how much of what he was currently seeing was true, how much could still be hidden. Hell, maybe Skull’s act was an act to hide another act that hid an act and- and yeah, the Rain was going to stop overthinking this, his brain was starting to hurt.

Skull, (proving that being a bastard was probably his true nature, hidden away all those years – along with the fact that he could actually be nice to be around), looked _way_ too amused by this turn of event.

“You take too much pleasure in my misery,” the blond grumbled good-naturally.

“Said the pot to the kettle,” Skull said, arching a brow. “Come on, you had decades to have fun with me. Now it’s my turn.”

“I can’t even argue with that,” Colonnello admitted with a small wince. “You’re never going to let us forget about it, are you?”

“Oh no,” Skull said, his eyes too _sparkling_ for it to be reassuring, despite his rather straight face. “Do you have any idea how much effort it took to restrain myself from reacting to your assumptions? A _lot_ .” He snorted. “If I didn’t have so much money riding on this, I would have broken out of characters _years_ ago.”

“Money? You did all that for a _bet_?” Colonnello said, incredulous.

“Eh, a bet and a dare, if you want to be accurate,” Skull said, with a dismissive gesture.

Colonnello stared at him, silently wondering if the man wasn’t more than a bit insane (what was he thinking, Skull rode to his death on a daily basis for _fun_ , of _course_ he was insane). Skull caught his look, and seemed to interpret it quite correctly, because he rose an eyebrow, as if daring the other to say it out loud. Colonnello shook his head.

“Why would you go through all this trouble for a bet and a dare?” He asked.

“To be honest?” Skull said, rhetorically. He grinned, sharp and almost wicked in it’s amusement. “It’s _hilarious_.”

Colonnello stayed silent for a beat, then wondered yet again why he had ever accepted to go _anywhere_ with Skull. He had spent decades ignoring or simply mistreating the other. Why had he suddenly decided that he wanted to spend some time getting to know the other, or at least spend a few days in his company? Oh yeah. Heartache and lapse of judgment.

“Why aren’t you a _Mist_?” He groaned. “You don’t make sense!”

“Mist is nothing but a grounded Cloud,” Skull chirped happily, clearly delighted to mess even more with the Rain’s head. “And a Cloud is a high Mist. _Really_ high!”

Colonnello groaned, burying his face in his hands, even as Skull laughed brightly.

What the stuntman didn’t say was that the Cloud was also what prevented the Rain to fall – and what eventually let it go free. It was only fitting that he was the one helping him find his way again. Skull, as he took another bite of his apple, thought that Colonnello probably wasn’t ready yet for that idea though.

But that was alright. They had time, now, and no curse to prevent progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a kudo, and a comment if you liked this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would apologize for the long delay between the chapters, but the truth is, life truly has been hectic this past few months. Changing countries is never easy, and going back to something stable is even less. I can't apologize for that. I will still warn everyone in advance that unless I somehow get a miracle sent my way, the wait for the next chapter might be rather long as well. But you guys know how it is by now.
> 
> Speaking of, I want to take the time to thank everyone that took the time to leave kudos and to leave their questions and a sweet word, and even the occasional hearts. Thank you for being patient, and for your eternal enthusiasm! It makes things easier on me.
> 
> To that one person, who left the sweetest comment ever, and then got shy and deleted it, I want to say thank you so much. No matter your english skills, I appreciate you trying so much, it was very brave and a delightful surprise! Languages are hard! That comment really made my day! Please never apologize for trying to show enthusiasm!
> 
> And now onto the story! Enjoy!

Colonnello wasn’t sure how this had happened.

One day they were still with the traveling show troop, and then the next they were back on the motorcycle, riding through Romania, even though Colonnello had had every intention of going his own way once the two weeks of shows were done.

Truthfully, it was all Skull’s fault. Colonnello had been asking about some magical knowledge, trying to both learn more about this admittedly  _ fascinating _ society, and to guess how much Skull knew about it. Then the Cloud had mentioned  _ dragons _ .

Real, live, motherfucking giant fire-breathing lizards. Like. Wow.

Sure, the Rain had known to some extent that mythical creatures  _ existed _ , since magic was real. But it was another thing to  _ actively  _ admit to oneself that dragons were a thing. A real, living thing that apparently Skull had seen. More than once.

“Well, yeah,” the man had said at the question of ‘have  _ you _ ever seen a dragon’. “I mean, a few? A  _ lot _ , actually, since, well-” He’d rubbed his neck- “One of my brothers  _ might _ be a dragon keeper for the Romanian preserve?”

Colonnello wasn’t sure where to even begin with  _ that _ statement. Skull had  _ brothers _ ? Skull’s brother took care of  _ dragons _ ? There was such a thing as a  _ dragon preserve _ ? There was one in  _ Romania _ ?!

Obviously, once he was done freaking out internally, he had asked all of those things. Learned that Skull’s so-called ‘brother’ wasn’t actually related to him, just someone he considered family. And that yes, there were dragon preserves, and there was one in Romania, and Charlie – the ‘brother’, worked there.

Of course, then, Skull had to ask the damning question.

“You want to go see?” He asked, blinking at him. “I can give Charlie a call. He can get us a bunk or two for a few days. I mean, we’re in the country already, and you’ve never seen dragons before… If you don’t want to...”

“Are you kidding me,” Colonnello deadpanned, staring at Skull, not even stopping to think about the words coming out of his mouth. “Hell  _ yes _ I want to see dragons.”

And so, here they were driving across the country and towards a dragon preserve, just because Colonnello had made another spur of the moment decision.

Colonnello was starting to see a recurring pattern to his newly declared holidays. A very  _ worrying _ pattern.

In his defense,  _ dragons _ .

* * *

Charlie was a short and stocky fellow, well-built and muscled, his skin covered in so many freckles and weather-tan that it looked almost golden. His hair was a fiery red with streaks of ash-gray, (which Colonnello found a bit ironic given his chosen profession), and kept in a tail. 

The man might have been intimidating, with his strong grip, calloused hands and burn scars here and there, if not for his friendliness. His smile, when he greeted him and Skull, was nothing less than beaming, and made the laughter lines of his features obvious.

“Colonnello, right?” He said, in Romanian. “Skull told me about you – you’re on a road-trip together?”

“Seems so, doesn’t it?” Colonnello said, smiling back at the friendly man, answering in Romanian as well, “To be fair, I have no idea how he managed to drag me into this.”

“Skull does that to you, he’s a force of nature and before you know it he’s got you right where he wants,” Charlie laughed, and slapped him strongly on the back. “Come on, let’s see where that troublemaker disappeared to.”

Skull, as it turned out, had simply gone to park his bike somewhere safe in a hangar, left Oodako in the tank that was conveniently there, and then to put his stuff on his appointed bunk. Which was rather small, and in a room with several others. The Romanian Dragon Sanctuary – the preserve’s official name – might be the largest in the world, apparently, but it was still low in budget for the handlers. The dragons got the fair share of the money, and the wizards taking care of them had to settle for shared rooms and rather small accommodations.

Still, Colonnello found that it was already impressive as it was, and didn’t mind sharing a room with a few others. It would be like his army days.

There were apparently three buildings like this one, all stones and square, across the sanctuary. Charlie told the blond how there were lots of wards around the place, to prevent dragons from flying off without their knowing, and more importantly, non-magical folks from coming near or noticing them. The wards already made planes and other contraptions avoid the area, but a few years back they had to infiltrate the NASA to cast a few spells regarding the surveillance and satellite tech.

Colonnello wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that they had infiltrated the  _ Nasa _ so easily, and that they had hidden such a large place  _ completely _ from the major part of the population. He settled for being appropriately awed and nervous, and hoped that the day would never come when the magicals went to war.

They had come to the sanctuary rather late in the day. Despite being in the same country, at the east of Transylvania, it was still rather far from Bucharest, and they had to go through a lot of mountains. Which took time, even at the breakneck speed Skull liked to drive. So they were right on time to see the keepers come back from their duties for dinner, and to take part in said dinner.

Skull, Charlie and Colonnello sat at a table near a window to eat. The food wasn’t the best thing ever, but it wasn’t the worst either, and Skull had attacked it with enough gusto for them all, Charlie following close behind. Colonnello could only stare for a while, the red-head having piled enough food in his plate for four.

“Taking care of those great beasts is grueling work,” Charlie told the blond, seeing him stare at his plate, “I need the energy.”

“That, and he never outgrew his mother’s tendency to stuff everyone like turkeys,” Skull piped cheerfully.

“Why, you cheeky-,” Charlie said, grinning and taking a playful swipe at the stuntman. Skull ducked, grinning as well, and the red-head arched a brow at him, “You say that like  _ you _ didn’t take after her in that department.”

“I do not  _ stuff _ you with food,” Skull exclaimed. He rolled his eyes, “Not like I could. I would need an army to help me cook enough for you lot.”

“Skull cooks for most family dinners,” Charlie explained to a bemused Colonnello. “He likes to complain about it, but the truth is, he loves it.”

“Given that if the whole family is there, they eat enough to feed a small country,” Skull said, “I think I have the right to complain about the amount of work that goes into those dinners.”

“It’s not like we don’t offer to help,” Charlie said, teasingly.

“Yes, and besides Molly and Luss, anyone I leave in  _ my _ kitchen ends up eating more than they cook, or making something explode,” Skull deadpanned. “So thanks, but no thanks.”

Charlie was about to reply, when suddenly he seemed to catch sight of something. He grinned, and nudged Skull, who followed his gaze out of the window. Colonnello did the same… And his eyes widened.

There was a huge winged form in the distance. It was bulky, not unlike a bull, and fairly large. Colonnello couldn’t make out the colour, it was too far, but he could see golden horns, also bull-like, obvious in contrast to the dark shade of the scales. The dragon, for it was what the beast was, flew away, disappearing in the distance, where trails of smokes rose to the sky.

“That’s a Romanian Longhorn,” Charlie informed him. “The only breed of the sanctuary that’s actually a native. They were endangered, a few years back, because people kept killing them for their horns.”

Colonnello nodded, still slightly in shock. It was his first time seeing a dragon. A real dragon. Charlie seemed to realize that, because he chuckled and gave him a pat on the shoulder across the table.

“Don’t worry, mate,” the red-head told him, “Tomorrow you’ll get to see more, and up-close too. Well, as close as we can get. Let’s not end up in a roast. We’ll go see the tame breeds.”

“How many different breeds are there?” Colonnello found himself asking.

“In the world? At least eleven that are officially recognized,” Charlie told him. “In the sanctuary we have only seven breeds – which is still a lot, mind you.”

He gave the blond a rundown of all those seven breeds, from their names to their fire-range and how dangerous they were considered. Skull would butt in here and there, adding a few details.

“The nastiest is the Hungarian Horntail when it’s nesting,” Charlie said, gravely, “But there is a less-known breed of dragon, that is just as dangerous when crossed.”

“Really?” Colonnello said. Even Skull seemed surprised by that. “Which one?”

“Well,” Charlie said very seriously, “If you don’t venture into a Horntail’s territory while nesting…” He paused for effect. “You  _ never _ venture into Skull’s kitchen when he’s cooking. I swear he breathes fire all the same.”

“Hey!” Skull yelped.

Charlie’s serious face melted into a huge shit-eating grin, and he burst into laughter. Colonnello snorted. Skull swatted at his brother with a mock-offended look. As he started to argue that  _ at least _ compare him to a Hebridean Black, since they both had purple eyes, the blond couldn’t help his grin.

Then Skull grumbled about Viper being the one that hoarded gold, and Colonnello burst out laughing.

* * *

Skull was a bastard. It was something that Colonnello found himself forgetting all the time – and then the Cloud would do something like this, and the Rain would wonder  _ how _ he had forgotten in the first place.

“Don’t move, it’s really cute,” Skull said, grinning from ear to ear and clearly besides himself with glee. “Oh, think of the blackmail possibilities!”

“You, Skull Demort, are an utter bastard, and I hope you know that the moment I’m free I’m going to rip your head off,” Colonnello told the other with the utmost seriousness.

“Of course,” Skull nodded with mock-gravity. His lips were twitching, though, and he soon startled chuckling again. Clearly, he wasn’t been taken seriously.

“I’m serious,” Colonnello told him.

“I know,” Skull said, still grinning like the cat who got left alone in the room with both the cream and the canary, “But the effect is  _ slightly _ ruined by the baby dragons napping all over you.”

And, to punctuate that statement, he took yet another picture of Colonnello’s predicament. The blond swore to himself that he would find every copy and destroy them before they could make it anywhere dangerous for his reputation.

(Well, he might keep just one for his own, because damn it, baby dragons. But no one needed to know that.)

“Skull is right, you know,” Charlie, (proving that apparently being a bastard ran in the family, or was maybe a bit contagious), told him with a huge grin, “This is really cute.”

“It would be cuter if the mother didn’t attempt to kill me,” Colonnello deadpanned, gesturing with his eyes to the huge reptilian shape that was curled around him.

Frankly, he still wasn’t sure how he had ended up in this position.

They had woken up bright and early, and followed Charlie and another two keepers into the sanctuary. They had spent a good part of the day moving from territory to territory, observing the dragons from afar, and sometimes a bit closer if the keepers deemed it safe. Colonnello had been like a child. All those dragons,  _ real _ , living dragons! It was amazing, to see it for real, and so close too.

They narrowly evaded a Chinese Fireball who had been patrolling the edge of its territory. Charlie had exchanged looks with the other keepers, clearly communicating that they would be investigating what had the dragon on edge later.

Then, they made it to the parts of the mountains where the Welsh Greens had made their nest. Apparently they were the friendliest, if very wary, of dragons. It didn’t mean you could go cuddle them freely, but it meant that you could go pretty close and take a break in their territory without getting killed.

Of course, things hadn’t gone exactly as planned. Apparently, the Welsh Green in this part of the territory was a female with three youngs, each barely three months old. And, apparently, three months was about the time that the baby Welsh Greens started to try and fly off.

Which had ended up with five surprised humans coming into the path of three clumsy babies, who had pretty much crashed into them. Distressed, the babies had started screeching, surprisingly melodiously, alerting the mother that there was something wrong. Seeing the alarmed looks all around, Colonnello had mostly reacted on instinct. His flames had gone straight to the babies, calming them instantly.

They only had the time to breathe a sigh of relief when all three babies found the source of the calming aura – that was Colonnello – and decided to take a nap on him.

Then, of course, with Colonnello forced to sit down so as not to wake up the babies, the mother had arrived. The less said about the resulting pandemonium, the better. At least, they hadn’t woken the babies up again. 

And now the Welsh Green mother was infused with Rain flames as well, and curled up half around Colonnello, who was still being used as a source of calm and warmth by her babies.

“Aw, but now she likes you,” Skull said, taking yet another picture. The Welsh Green mother growled a little, and the stuntman took a step back, but his grin was still firmly in place. Colonnello  _ hated _ him, just a little. “You’ve been adopted by a dragon, isn’t it wonderful?”

“Yes,  _ wonderful, _ ” Colonnello gritted, “Now, where is the help?”

The two had the gall to blink at him in incomprehension. The two other keepers were at a small distance away, talking together and sending Colonnello looks once in a while. One had taken a notebook out, clearly recording the event. He had already questioned the Rain on what magic he used, and only the knowledge that it was okay to talk about flames because Omerta and the Statute were pretty much inclusive had allowed him to answer.

“There  _ is _ help coming, right?” Colonnello said, slowly filling with dread.

“Well,” Charlie said slowly, “We can’t really do anything. Disturbing the mother would probably end up in us getting roasted.”

“So, basically, I’m stuck until they,” he gestured to the tiny green dragons clutching him, “wake up and decide to go, taking their mother with them. Is that it?”

“Basically, yes,” Charlie agreed.

Wonderful. Colonnello groaned, and let himself lean back a little- forgetting about the dragon around him. He froze, feeling the warm scales at his back. When the Welsh Green didn’t stir much at his contact, he relaxed a little, still leaning against the adult dragon’s flank.

Skull chuckled, delighted, and took another picture. Collonnello glared at him.

Of course, the Cloud wasn’t even phased.

It probably had to do with the cute baby dragons.

* * *

When the time had come to leave, Colonello was known through the reserve as ‘the guy who attracts Welsh Greens’. Which, he felt, was a gross overstatement.

He only attracted  _ four _ Welsh Greens, the same four as the first day.

Of course, arguing that didn’t really help his case. If anything, it simply prompted the handlers to nicknames said dragons as ‘Colonello’s dragons’. Or, if they wanted to get cheeky, his ‘dragon wife and children’. Truthfully, Colonello had heard more jokes about his supposed dragon family, and puns referencing to it than he cared to know.

So, when it was finally time to leave, Colonello was mostly relieved to see the last of those comments – although he had  _ no doubt _ that Skull would never let him forget about it, ever.

“Hopefully,” the cheeky Cloud bastard told his brother with a grin, “Colonello’s babies won’t try to fly off to find their father.”

“Given how enamoured the mother was with him,” Charlie replied with the same grin, “At least we’re sure we won’t have to hold the first dragon-human custody battle in history.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Colonello grumbled. “Can we go now?”

“Don’t be like that,” Skull bumped his shoulder, still grinning. “Aren’t you sad to leave your kids?”

Colonello sent him and the snickering Charlie a flat look. (Truth was,  _ yes _ , he would probably miss the dragons. Cute little shits. But he wasn’t going to admit that on pain on death. Skull would  _ never _ stop teasing him otherwise.)

He and Skull had finally bid Charlie goodbye, with promises to maybe see each other again. Colonnello wasn’t sure he would be able to keep that promise, but who knew. He wouldn’t put it pass the Cloud to drag him to the preserve again.

Then, as they sped down the mountain roads and away from the dragon sanctuary, Skull had asked what Colonnello intended to do now.

The Rain had to admit, he hadn’t really planned this far. Most of the decisions until then had been part-Skull and part-impulse, (yes, Skull deserved an adjective of his own, because clearly his insanity was catching). Colonnello had frankly intended to just go along with it, and then maybe once it was done, find a hotel or something, and maybe book a cruise somewhere, or even go back to Mafia Land and find a few missions to occupy himself.

Key words being  _ had intended _ .

Skull, obviously, once he had heard that plan, had decided that it wasn’t good enough. In his own words, ‘clearly Colonnello didn’t know how to plan holidays and to just relax and have fun’. The blond had protested, but Skull had retorted that  _ no _ , working was  _ not _ considering relaxing and fun, even if it was a job that he liked.

“You have to know when to stop working,” he had lectured, “and when to simply enjoy going with the flow. Rain isn’t always supposed to fall straight, you know!”

“Alright,” Colonnello had said, more amused than anything else, “Then what should I do, oh Great and Wise Trip Councilor.”

“Well, my young padawan,” Skull had said gravely, gesturing grandly to his bag, Oodako mimicking the gesture from his perch, “In this bag lies the secret to my success...”

Colonnello  _ really _ shouldn’t have been surprised to see him pull out a map and darts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider leaving a small comment if you enjoyed it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> What can I say, it seems that updating rate is gonna stay stuck like this. Luckily for all of you, there's only one chapter after this one, so you won't have to suffer anymore afterwards! No more wait!  
> I hope you enjoy!

Skull was a wizard. Of that much, Colonnello was certain.

The Cloud knew far too much about magic, and did things that were supposed to be impossible, even for flame users, far too easily. His brother – of choice, but still – was a wizard. He could drink magical drinks with the best of them. That, and he didn’t have any Mist flames that could explain the sudden shrinking objects fitting in one single bag, and that same bag being ignored by the airport security. So Colonnello had taken the next logical step.

That step was – Skull had magic, and knew how to use it.

The next step after coming to that conclusion would have been to ask Skull about it.

For some reason, it took almost a month after he had realized it for Colonnello to do just that. He completely blamed Skull. The man had the infuriating tendency to find the most  _ absurd _ things, and so the Rain  _ always _ got distracted despite himself.

Really,  _ who _ except Skull would suddenly suggest to explore the underwater society of Amsterdam, in the middle of their peaceful walk around the city? Colonnello hadn’t even  _ known _ there was an underwater society! That it was magical explained a lot, but still.

Underwater city. Mermaids. Magical water creatures. The wonder that was Gilliweed!

Or, he would mention that there was a whole magical town – a full  _ city _ – in the province of Heilongjang, China. And that, from there, one could access the few mountains where Phoenixes still lived. Obviously, Colonello wanted to see a magical city and Phoenixes!

When distracted by suggestions like this, it was no wonder it took so long for him to remember what he had intended to ask a month before.

Besides, he would admit – if only to himself – that he was a bit worried about how Skull would react.

He had discovered, over the course of their trip, that Skull was really  _ nothing _ like what he acted like, and yet sometimes  _ way too similar.  _ For example, the Cloud wasn’t a coward – he bloody well defied death on a daily basis with his stunts, and that took bravery (or stupidity and insanity, but sometimes those were synonyms, really).

But, if faced with something he didn’t want to deal with, he had a tendency to just go ‘ _ nope _ ’ and turn around, walking away like there was nothing wrong.

In the same vein, Skull wasn’t actually all false bravado and arrogance. He clearly had the skills and the power to back up everything he said – or most of it. He didn’t show it much, though. Not only because the man was a convinced pacifist that wouldn’t hurt a fly if he could avoid it, but also because apparently he also had a few trust issues. A few.

Okay, yeah, a lot.

Colonnello understood that. In their line of work, and in secret societies depending on weird powers and protected by secrecy oaths, trust issues were a given. Still, it was what made him worry that maybe Skull didn’t want him to know about the magic, and that he wouldn’t react well. Skull might just decide to run from the situation and ditch him, thinking that his safety was on the line. He was paranoid like that.

But still.

It bothered him a little, he had to say, that Skull clearly didn’t think they were at the point in their relationship where they could be considered friends and share stuff. They had been traveling together for more than two months! They had seen dragons together, and had seen an underwater culture together, and had ran away from some crazy stunt-show fans together, and had stayed together in a mountain cabin in Tibet for a week simply relaxing! That sort of things were the kind that usually built friendship, right?

(He didn’t really know. His whole world view was based on the mafia and COMBUSIN, and it showed sometimes. He, too, had issues. Not that he would ever admit it.)

So, he decided that he would have to talk about it with Skull. Because even if they had had their bad days – or  _ decades,  _ but the Rain liked to think they had started over again, anew – he was growing to really like the Cloud. When he wasn’t being a bastard, (which might actually be a defense mechanism, or simply his mischievous personality coming out, he had realized, but didn’t make it less bastard-y) that is.

Besides, Colonnello thought one evening, in the small flat they rented near Jixi, he couldn’t really keep ignoring the problem. Sure, if Skull made an effort to be somewhat discreet, and to keep it hidden, maybe he could pretend he hadn’t guessed. But. Well.

“Okay,” he said, finally having had enough. He pointed at Skull’s cooking workshop, finger accusing, and all but shouted, “How can you expect me to remain quiet and oblivious to  _ that _ ?!”

Skull had the gall to turn a bewildered stare at him. He turned back to his vegetables, looking  _ honestly _ nonplussed.

“I’m just cooking?” He said, the statement coming out more as a question.

“Not the  _ cooking _ ,” Colonnello said, “The  _ floating carrots peeling themselves! _ ”

Skull turned to look at the carrots.

Which were, in fact, actually levitating and shedding their skin without any visible outward help. It was magical, and Colonnello usually would have loved the display, but the fact that Skull hadn’t been acknowledging it made it a little more… Annoying and creepy.

“Oh,” Skull said, still staring at the carrots.

“Tell me this isn’t a ‘ _ I have no clue what’s happening _ ’ sound,” Colonnello said blankly. When Skull didn’t answer immediately, he persisted, worried. “This  _ is _ your doing, right?”

“What?” Skull said, startling out of whatever stupor he’d been in. He nodded, still looking a bit confused, “Oh yeah, no, you’re right, that’s me.”

“Okay, good,” Colonnello said, relieved that there  _ wasn’t _ a poltergeist peeling their carrots. He added, a bit hesitant, “So you are magical?”  _ And I haven’t been hallucinating and building conspiracy theories for nothing, _ was left unsaid.

“I am,” Skull nodded, slowly, looking at him this time. “You don’t look too surprised.”

“I can believe that you have friends that put enchantment on your things to make them shrink on command. I can even believe that you would be paranoid enough to ask them for portable privacy charms so that no one follows us,” Colonnello answered, a bit wryly – it was a very useful bit of magic, too, “But some things are a bit harder to explain.”

“Like floating carrots?” Skull said, with an amazingly straight face.

“Like floating carrots,” Colonnello grinned right back.

Skull huffed and with a wave of his hands the rest of the vegetables, and all the ingredients to make what would no doubt be a delicious stir-fry dish, started cooking themselves. The Cloud turned to face Colonnello fully, his eyes alight with amusement when the blond just stared at the display of magic in amazement.

“That’s awesome,” The Rain said, in case it wasn’t clear by his expression.

“Thank you,” Skull said, “It took a lot of practice to make it look this easy.”

Colonnello nodded, eyes still on the floating ingredients that were still peeling, dicing and cooking themselves without visible help. He wondered if Skull’s focus was still partly on them or not, and if it took a lot of power to maintain, or if it was a basic sort of magic. He didn’t get a chance to ask, though, because Skull huffed.

“I hadn’t noticed I had started to be so careless with my magic,” he admitted, not looking at the Rain.

“People make small mistakes by reflex all the time,” Colonnello said. He added, “It’s not the end of the world, you know. I’m not going to start screaming ‘Burn the witch!’”

“I know that,” Skull said, with a roll of his eyes, “But you  _ do _ realize that I spent  _ decades _ not only acting like a different person, but also  _ never _ using my magic, right? Especially wandless. Even if it’s a reflex, it’s a reflex that I usually never allow myself in front of anyone that isn’t family or friends.”

“Oh,” Colonnello said, a bit dumbly, the full implications of that statement hitting him, “Does that mean we’re friends?”

For a moment, Skull didn’t reply, simply staring at him. Colonnello did the same, mind reeling. It explained the way the stuntman had reacted. He clearly hadn’t realized he had been comfortable enough around him to act like that, and the implications had taken some time to register. For someone like Skull, who clearly had trust-issues, it had to be important.

For him too, it was important. Because he and Skull hadn’t had the best relationship – in fact, quite the contrary – and even if Colonello had been doing his best to make up for all the years of basically treating Skull like shit, he knew it would be a while before it led to anything. So to know that Skull felt comfortable enough to be more natural, more  _ himself _ around him…

It was a show of trust that was frankly heart-warming. And bewildering.

“I don’t know,” Skull eventually said. “Do you consider us friends?”

“I guess so?” Colonnello replied slowly. “I can’t talk for you, but I wouldn’t be here, with you if I didn’t actually like your company, you know. Sure, it was unexpected, but you’re a nice guy.” He added, not meeting Skull’s eyes because damn it it was getting embarrassing. “Given how I treated you before, I don’t know why you wanted me to come along, but I’m happy you did.”

“Yeah,” Skull said softly, and Colonnello looked at him to find the stuntman looking at him with a small smile, “I’m glad I did too. You’re not too bad yourself.”

The next sentence effectively destroyed any sort of weirdly emotional cheesy atmosphere they had.

“Although I’m pretty sure you’re only staying with me for my cooking skills,” Skull went on, eyes narrowing with mock-suspicion.

“I never!” Colonnello replied, clutching his chest with a mock-wounded look. “I swear, my love is genuine!”

“Your love for my dishes, sure,” Skull snorted.

“Lies!”

“Oh, so you  _ don’t _ like my cooking?”

“Oh, come on-”

They kept bickering in good humour for a while, and moved on to other things. If only to give them time to deal with everything that had just happened. It wasn’t until that evening, even as they relaxed quietly that Colonnello broached the topic again.

“You know I was being honest, right?” He said. “I’m not staying for the food, or the magic, or anything else, even if those are nice bonuses. I  _ do _ consider you a friend.” He paused, and added. “And for what it’s worth, I apologize for being a dick to you all those years. I really shouldn’t have acted that way despite how  _ annoying _ you were, or how Reborn acted towards you. I know it doesn’t take it back, or make it okay, but I want you to know I regret it.”

“That’s-” Skull said, blinking at him. He paused, searching for his words, before finally settling for a nod. “Thank you. It means a lot.”

There was a silence for a few beats, before Skull shifted, sitting straighter and looking Colonnello straight in the eyes. He was a little hesitant, as he presented his hand.

“I suppose we  _ should _ start again properly, since we’re friends,” he said, and Colonnello grinned at the admission before taking his hand, “I’m Skull Demort, real name Harry Potter. You can call me Harry when I drop the piercings, but otherwise call me Skull. I’m 56 years old. I’m a Cloud, and a wizard. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Colonnello, real name Lionel Biondo. You can call me Nel, or Nello. I’m 59 years old. I’m a Rain,” he answered, shaking the hand. “Nice to meet you too.”

They grinned at each other. Then, one part of Skull’s statement registered.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘when I drop the piercings’?”

* * *

According to Skull, his appearance changed  _ a lot _ when he dropped his piercings. The jewelry was apparently a gift, enchanted items that held multiple, complex glamours that altered everything. From skin tone, to facial structure, to hair colour – everything. Except body mass, because that just wasn’t done, apparently.

Colonnello was incredibly curious, but Skull had told him in no uncertain terms that he  _ wouldn’t _ take the piercings off unless he was at a safe place and feeling in the mood for less purple.

“So that means never,” Colonnello had teased. “You clearly would  _ marry _ purple if it was possible to marry a colour.”

“My love for purple knows no bound,” Skull had agreed dramatically, hugging a purple pillow that had appeared out of thin air to his chest.

So Colonnello had resigned himself to not seeing Skull’s ‘real’ appearance anytime soon. He didn’t mind too terribly. As much as it meant to them, to know each other’s real names and a few secrets, both him and Skull were more comfortable with the familiarity of the names they had been using for years.

Although Skull had taken to greet him overly cheerfully when he could with a chirped ‘Nel’ and a lot of cheesy lines. Colonnello suspected he was having a  _ lot _ of fun with this. Not that he wasn’t as well. He was pretty sure they were having a contest of the one that could say the cheesiest thing to the other with a straight face.

Which explained the way the day started.

Colonnello came into the kitchen of the cheap studio they were currently renting in Peru, to find Skull already cooking breakfast for two in his pants. It probably said something about them that this sort of things had become almost routine, and that Skull didn’t miss a beat before turning to him when he sat down at the table.

“Hello Nel darling!” Skull greeted with an almost blinding smile. “Have you slept well?”

“I missed your wonderful presence, Skull,” he retorted with mock-despair, “Each moment without you feels like dying a little!”

“Oh, Nel,” Skull swooned. “You say the sweetest things.”

“But the sweetest thing is you, my dear,” Colonnello said with a winning smile.

Skull’s retort died a miserable death when the stuntman registered the words, and burst out laughing. Still snickering, he put down the two plates on the table, and took the seat opposite to Colonnello’s. Taking hold of his fork, the Cloud grinned at his friend and waved the cutlery at him.

“You are getting cornier by the day,” he pointed out in amusement. “It’s almost impressive.”

“It’s a gift,” Colonnello said grinning, unrepentant.

“That, I can believe,” Skull snorted.

They lapsed into comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of the cutlery on the plates, and the ambient sounds. The smell of food mixed with the permanent smell of dust that somehow permeated the studio mad for an interesting smell, one that Colonnello had grown used to and found somewhat relaxing.

Still, despite the relaxed atmosphere, he could feel something was amiss. It took him a few minutes of thoughtfully looking around, munching on the – delicious as usual – food, before pinpointing the problem. Skull was pushing his food around his plate almost more than he was eating it.

The Rain blinked at the other, wondering what was on his mind. Skull seemed to sense his gaze, for he raised his eyes to meet Colonnello’s. For a second, the Cloud didn’t move, clearly torn between talking or keeping his thoughts to himself. It was only when the blond arched an inquisitive brow that he gave up, and said cautiously.

“I have to go back to Italy,” he said.

“Oh.” Colonnello hadn’t been expecting that. “Why?”

“Boss called me,” Skull said.

For a second, the Rain wondered what the Carcassa had gotten into this time, before remembering that Skull wasn’t with them anymore.

It was one thing that they didn’t really discuss, their mafia alliances and missions. That sort of thing wasn’t shared, even with friends, unless they had the same loyalties – and even then, one needed to be careful. So Colonnello spared barely one thought to this mysterious ‘Boss’ and which famiglia the Cloud was with, and instead nodded slowly.

“Okay,” he said. “I guess this means we’ll be going our separate ways.”

“Yeah,” Skull said. He poked at his breakfast again, thoughtful. “It was going to happen soon anyway.” At Colonnello’s questioning look, he shrugged. “I’m a Cloud,  _ darling _ . Even if I’m not the most aloof of them all, I don’t usually stick around the same person for too long. I would have needed a break of your delightful company at some point.”

The slight teasing edge to the statement made it clear that Skull didn’t mean any offense by that. Colonnello felt a bit stupid for not thinking about it before. He hadn’t stopped to consider that, as social as the stuntman was, he was still a Cloud. 

Sure, it was something he knew, and that was made clear by his traveling around and his way of simply going along with the flow. Skull clearly disliked being chained to things, even if he didn’t make it as obvious as some would. But he had many people around the world that  _ anchored _ him, clearly, people that were friends and family.

Colonnello just hadn’t thought about the fact that  _ he _ was as much an anchor as others, and that Skull had been dragging him along for months now. For someone that took his  _ freedom _ so seriously, it had to be a bit stifling.

“Doesn’t mean we’ll be losing touch,” Skull added, after a beat of silence. “I’m giving you my number in case of emergency or simply if you want to chat.”

“I already have your number,” Colonnello said.

“I’ve got three phones,” Skull replied. “The ‘mafia people and acquaintances’ phone is the one you have the number of. I’m giving you the ‘friends and family’ number.”

“What’s the last phone for?” Colonnello wondered, refusing to feel touched by the show of trust (who was he kidding, if he had been the sort to be emotional he would be tearing up. And no, he wasn’t feeling his eyes getting a bit moist. That was the dust).

“Non-mafia people and acquaintances,” Skull said. With a shrug, he added, “When you are trying to keep your lives separated, having several phones is needed.”

Colonnello admitted the point.

They lapsed into silence again, as Skull started eating instead of pushing his food around. This had clearly been bothering him, and the Rain could guess that his friend had been worried he would take the announcement badly. Colonnello, though, knew better than most how sometimes they had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The only reason he had forgotten that it could happen was because he was on a vacation, and had no clear contract currently.

The Rain had to wonder what he was going to do now. Traveling around was fun, but doing so alone didn’t seem as appealing. Unlike Skull, whom he didn’t doubt could travel alone and be very happy with simply the knowledge that he had places he could return to, people waiting for him, Colonnello  _ needed _ a more present anchor.

That anchor was usually his job, or simply the mafia, and Lal. Three things that the blond could admit, if only to himself, he wasn’t quite ready to go back to. Skull had been very right in thinking he needed a break.

Still, even if he felt  _ free _ , too much freedom felt a bit terrifying too. Skull had been keeping him grounded, which he was grateful for. Without him, though, he wasn’t sure where he could go to keep himself from spiraling into a depressed moping and pining session as he had before. 

Colonnello was a Rain, and he was acutely aware that it was a tendency of his to fall without something to keep him steady.

“Hey, Skull,” he said eventually, after debating over the matter.

Skull raised his head, shooting him a curious glance. Colonnello paused, searching for his words. He hadn’t really broached the topic of why he had so readily gone along with Skull, after all, and the Cloud hadn’t pressed. He appreciated it, the fact that the stuntman had clearly  _ known _ there was something wrong, but had given him time, and space, to work it on his own if he wanted to. He’d respected his boundaries a lot, and he was grateful for that.

Colonnello still didn’t really feel ready to talk about it, wasn’t really sure he had come to terms with everything yet himself.

Still, he  _ knew _ that Skull would understand in a way, and that he wouldn’t judge and would help if he could, if Colonnello simply asked him for it. It was the sort of person Skull was, (and hell, Colonnello always felt guilty each time he thought about it, because he had never seen it before, had never given Skull the  _ chance _ to show him).

“What is it?” Skull asked, when he still didn’t talk.

“I-” Colonnello hesitated, before asking. “Do you know a place I could go?”

Skull eyed him for a second, and understanding crossed his face for a beat, before his expression turned thoughtful. Colonnello was glad for it, for the lack of comments. He didn’t even need to explain what he meant. Somehow, Skull understood.

“I take it you want to avoid anywhere mafia-related?” He asked, and nodded to himself when Colonnello agreed. “Well… Depends on whether you want to be alone or not.”

“I’d rather not,” Colonnello said.

“Fair enough,” Skull murmured to himself. He hummed thoughtfully, before looking back at the Rain, meeting his eyes, “Well, I can think of a few things. One, you could go back to Romania. Charlie wouldn’t mind having you there, and the other keepers will probably be happy to have you to experiment with your Rain flames on the dragons.” He added, a bit teasing. “You could see that Welsh Green again, see how well your babies have grown.”

“Oh hush,” Colonnello grumbled, lips twitching a little despite himself, “You’re just jealous that I have baby dragons and you don’t.”

“Lies!” Skull said dramatically. “All lies!” His expression quickly turned thoughtful once more, “Otherwise… There are a few people in France and Britain that wouldn’t mind you staying with them for a while, if I asked them, but it might be a bit awkward. I mean, they are lovely, but you don't know them. Or-”

He cut off, his face suddenly taking a very familiar look that had Colonnello immediately wary. That was the Way Too Gleeful To Be Good look. The Skull Proves He Can Be A Devious Bastard look. A look that promised lots of fun, but not in any expected way.

Colonnello found himself morbidly curious, and leaned a bit forward.

“Or?” He prompted, (he internally mourned the last of his sensibility, which had clearly died a grisly death at the hands of Skull’s dastardly ways).

“Or I can ask Luna,” Skull said, nodding to himself. He smiled fondly, “She’s a delight. A bit weird, but that’s what makes her company so interesting and nice. She’s all for making new friends.” He added, looking at the blond. “Besides, she’s a Rain as well. I think you might get along.”

Colonnello hesitated. On the one hand, Charlie was very nice, and  _ dragons _ . The Romanian Sanctuary would be a familiar place to go, with a familiar face, and nice things to do.

On the other hand, he was curious about this ‘weird friend’ of Skull’s. Anyone the stuntman described as ‘weird’ had to be at least a bit quirky. Skull looked so fond of her, as well, which made him even more curious to meet her. Besides, for all that Skull mentioned his family often enough, he never truly went into details, and Colonello had yet to meet anyone besides Charlie.

That, and if she was a Rain… Maybe she would get it. Maybe she could understand.

Could he really be blamed for wanting to meet someone like him, other than Lal?

“Where does she live?” He asked, not giving any definite answer.

“She’s currently staying in Finland,” Skull told him. “She’s a magizoologist. She’s always researching new magical creatures in other places. Her husband-” he cut himself, frowning, before shaking his head, and moving on, “He’s usually with her, but apparently he went back to Britain with the kids. I was planning to visit her after whatever the Boss needs me for, to check on her.”

So she was an expert on magical creatures, a Rain that had been left alone, and Skull would eventually go to see her. Colonnello didn’t even need to think about it for much longer. He could go back to see Charlie and the dragons later.

“Finland does sound nice,” he said.

“Great!” Skull beamed at him. “Let me call her. She’ll be delighted to have some company.”

Colonnello smiled back at him.

Inwardly, he lamented the fact that he had, once more, made a spur of the moment decision.

He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

(But then again, so far he hadn’t regretted any of his decisions, had he.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to kudo or comment if you liked this chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up three months late with starbucks* Hello guys! Ready to get off this ride? I know I am!
> 
> I can't thank you guys enough for your patience for these past months. I've never been good at regular, short updates, but most of you have been amazing and sweet and I'm so glad there were so few complaints.
> 
> This is the last chapter, so as usual I'll leave a note at the end for those interested. It'll have answers for the questions you might have.
> 
> Without more dallying, enjoy this last chapter!

Colonnello had known he was in for a strange stay when he found Luna waiting for him in the airport. 

Luna was a tiny slip of a woman, with waist-length dirty blond hair, and dreamy eyes popping out of her face as if in surprise. He would have recognized her even without the artistic sign proclaiming ‘ _Rain this way_ ’, simply because of her fashion sense. She wore a pale blue dress with frills that looked like waves, and a large hat that looked like a cloud, with blue glass rain droplets hanging from it.

‘A little weird’ didn’t even _begin_ to cover Luna Scamander.

Colonnello had spared a second to think ‘ _ah, this must be Luna_ ’ and then had done the mental equivalent of a shrug.

Oh, well, not the weirdest thing he had ever seen. He had been expecting something like this, anyway, what with Skull being Skull.

“Hi!” Luna had greeted dreamily, if happily, when he came to her. She shook his hand lightly, smiling serenely in a way that reminded him of Fon if a bit more dreamy. “You must be the Rain. I’m the Rain too. It’s very nice meeting you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Colonnello replied, blinking a bit bemusedly at her. “Luna Scamander, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Luna nodded, “Were you expecting someone else?” She tilted her head to a side, making the glass droplets of her hat chime. “Or maybe a Wrackspurt got to you.”

Colonnello wasn’t sure what to answer to that, so he settled for the logical response of any sane non-magical person confronted with a word they didn’t know. He looked at Luna curiously, and wondered with genuine interest – and just a tiny bit of alarm, since apparently ‘wrackspurts’ could ‘get to you’, whatever _that_ meant.

“What’s a Wrackspurt?” He asked.

Luna seemed to assess him for a second, then upon seeing that he was genuinely interested, she beamed at him, and started dragging him out of the airport, explaining Wrackspurts all the while. Her gait was skipping, and her hat was bouncing oddly, and she was clearly very enthusiastic about the topic despite never loosing her dreamy manner. Weirdly, no one seemed to be paying them any attention.

Ah, magic. Such a wonderful thing.

Colonnello found himself asking questions as they went, and grinning when she all but lit up in a quiet way when he kept expressing interest. He suddenly understood why Skull had looked so fond. Luna was something else, out of this world and so very refreshing.

He was in for a very interesting stay, that was for sure.

* * *

The house that Luna lived in had clearly been purchased with a family in mind. It had three more rooms than it needed, a very large living room, and a vast expense of garden, wild and untamed, with a few trees on the edges of the property. It was situated quite far from the nearest village, a village that was quite far itself from the bigger cities.

It was lovely. And very lonely, as well.

Colonnello could understand why Skull had thought a good idea to send him here. A lonely Rain was never a good thing, so Luna and him could both keeping each other company.

The walls of Luna’s house had been painted all over, clearly by hand, by someone very creative. There were swirls of colours, odd creatures, and a few figures and gorgeous scenery instead of boring plaster walls. Odd trinkets littered the place as well, in a seeming chaos of weird things, (but Rains didn’t really _do_ chaos, they followed a path that was sometimes only clear to them. Colonnello didn’t doubt that everything was where Luna thought it should be, even if to him it didn’t make sense.).

Colonnello’s room was very nice, with walls painted to depict an outlandish scenery – desert-like, with odd plants growing and a sky that was almost purple in it’s shade. He left his things on the bed, which had an odd fur-like covering in a nice sand colour, and went to the corridor, intent on finding his host and maybe seeing if she had something planned, or needed help, or- well. If she just wanted company, like he did.

He stopped before he could go far, though, eyes attracted to the pictures on the walls. They were, like every magical picture, moving, and that was always good enough to attract his attention. But what kept it, were the people in those pictures.

Colonnello stopped, staring at the first one with curiosity. He recognized Luna, smiling her usual dreamy smile widely. She held a man’s hand, swinging their arms happily, and sometimes shooting him happy looks. The man, dark-skinned and tall, let her, shooting her equally happy looks with fond smiles. Next to them, two boys that looked exactly alike, with the man’s skin tone and Luna’s eyes and dreamy expression.

He wondered if the man was her husband, and the two boys their children.

“That’s Rolf,” Luna’s voice startled him – he hadn’t heard her come behind him. He shot her a look, and she smiled dreamily at him, if a bit sadly, before turning back to the picture he was looking at, “And next to him are Lorcan and Lysander. Twins.”

“Your family?” He asked, and when she nodded he hesitated for a second before asking. “Skull said that they left for Britain?”

“Hm, yes,” She said, “Rolf’s mother isn’t in too good health, you see. But she doesn’t like me much, so I decided to stay here while they went.” She smiled at him. “Harry is a dear. He worries too much about us, sometimes, but I’m happy he does. I’m glad he sent you. I’m used to be alone, but it’s not very nice.”

Colonnello nodded, smiling hesitantly back. Harry – Skull. It was still difficult to remember the name of the Cloud, given that he didn’t use it at all and that Colonnello was much too used to calling him differently.

Almost absently, he moved his gaze to the next picture. It had Luna again, but much younger – barely twenty, if he had to guess – with a red-haired girl and blond boy. The freckles and the shade of red of the girl’s hair reminded him distinctly of Charlie Weasley.

“Is that Charlie’s sister?” He wondered, pointing to the picture, where the three seemed to notice him and waved happily.

“Yes, Ginny,” Luna acquiesced. “And next to me, that’s Neville. We went to school together. They are great friends.”

They moved to the next picture, one where they barely looked older but were with a much larger group of people. There was Luna again, and Neville and Ginny, and Colonnello recognized Charlie next to other red-heads. All the other people, though, he didn’t recognize at all. There were _lots_ of them, all moving and squeezing to fit in the picture, a few even going as far as hanging off brooms above the others to make it. Colonnello thought he could make out a house behind them.

“That’s a lot of people,” Colonnello eventually said, after peering at all the people intently.

“It is, isn’t it?” Luna said, and he turned to find her smiling much more happily. “Now there are even more people, so we can’t take full pictures like that anymore.”

“More people?” Colonnello repeated.

“Well, yes,” Luna hummed, “Family is like that. It’s always growing.”

“You are all related, then?” The man wondered, looking at the vastly different people on the picture.

“Not by blood, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Luna replied. “Harry always said that ours was a family of choices and circumstances. I think it’s very nice, even if it’s a bit chaotic sometimes.”

It did sound nice, Colonnello thought. In a way, a big family with bonds that weren’t defined by blood was something very similar to the mafia. He wondered, as he looked at the picture, if they had the equivalent of a Sky, or a Boss, in that huge family of theirs.

Then he wondered which one of the strangers was ‘Harry’, the person that Skull became when he shed his piercings. He hesitated, wondering if Skull would mind if he asked Luna to show him.

But then he remembered that Skull wasn’t stupid, and that he would have known that Luna could show him pictures. He wouldn’t mind. Probably.

Besides, he was too curious.

“Which one is Harry?” He asked.

“Ah, you have only seen Skull, then,” Luna nodded to herself. She pointed to another picture, with three people in it. She pointed to the middle one. “Here.”

_Harry_ was a teenager with gold skin, green eyes and messy black hair, laughing with his two friends. Something about his facial features, was both terribly familiar and completely foreign. Skull had been smart when he had changed his appearance, in that he had barely done any alterations to his facial structure – just enough that people would only know it was him if they _knew_ and were searching for it.

Colonnello’s mind was having a hard enough time linking the smiling _stranger_ with the Cloud. No purple, no over-the-top make-up, no piercings, no pale-as-death skin… The teen Harry looked perfectly normal, although he was wearing wizarding clothes. Nothing like the skin-tight biking suit Skull wore. His smile, though, directed at the laughing red-head and the bushy-haired girl who was looking at them with a fond smile, was the same as always.

It was terribly weird.

“I think I’m not going to get used to this,” he said, more to himself than for Luna.

“Sometimes people don’t believe things until they see it for themselves,” Luna said dreamily, “and even then, sometimes they still don’t believe it. That’s okay.”

Colonnello nodded. His gaze moved to the people on the picture with _Harry_ , and then back to the previous picture, finding the black-haired boy rather easily.

He seemed so happy, surrounded by all those people who all were smiling and laughing with him. They all seemed really loving. His family, huh.

A part of him wanted to ask Luna about it. Another, though, wanted to wait until he met with Skull again, to ask him himself. To wait until Skull trusted him with the information.

He turned to Luna with a smile. She smiled back dreamily, no expectations there.

“So, did you have anything planned?” He asked.

She beamed at him.

* * *

Luna made it easy to love her.

Sometimes she was terribly blunt, almost rudely so, and sometimes she was so outlandish it bordered on alarming. But she was always so refreshing, her honesty coming with a strange wisdom that Colonnello always found helpful, and her quirky habits being more curious and funny than anything else.

Traveling with Skull had been a whirlwind, always spontaneous and new, with just enough routine and habit to frame it. It had been a bit overwhelming, at times, but Colonnello had needed that. He had needed to change paces, to change _places_ , to simply _move_ and forget about everything else for a while.

Once Skull had to go back to Italy, though, it brought the whole thing to a halt, and suddenly Colonnello was reminded that the world was still there, that there were things he had to deal with.

Skull had gotten him to move, despite the weight that had been bringing him down. Now he just needed to get rid of what had been impeding his movements.

And that was where Luna came in, with all of her quirks, her unusual perceptiveness, and her soothing, refreshing ways.

(Colonnello thought to himself, three days into his stay, that if Superbi Squalo was a violent deluge, and he was a strong and steady downpour, Luna was the light rain that made hot summers bearable and rainbows appear. She was refreshing and colourful like that.)

She would come find him, and would show him some odd trinkets, or talk about strange creatures that he wasn’t really sure existed – but they might, after all, what did he know. She would cook the oddest dishes, and laugh a loud snorting laugh at his comment on them, (he hadn’t even intended to be funny the first time he had said that the quiche tasted like a dragon had suddenly decided to spit strawberry juice. Holy shit, that quiche had been sweet but spicy. Then Luna had laughed, and he had promptly decided that it was the weirdest, _most adorable_ laugh ever.).

After a week, they had gotten into a nice routine. Colonnello would wake up usually before Luna did, and go for a jog. Upon coming back he would stretch and train a little near the house, simply enjoying the quiet. He would then join the blonde witch, who always prepared breakfast for the both of them with fruity things, and they would either simply enjoy each other’s company in silence, or start talking about things really loudly.

Luna apparently enjoyed the new view he brought to her theories with his ‘muggle’ upbringing, and they sometimes got a bit too carried away with their ideas and debates. But it was fun.

Then, Luna would suggest things to do. Be it caring for the numerous creatures around the house, or going to get strange plants to make yet another dish, or even baking something weird together, or going traveling somewhere in Finland just for fun or for creature spotting. 

Once, Colonnello asked if she could fight, and they got into a mock-spar. Luna, it turned out, was very creative while casting, but was even worse with her flames. Colonnello, not used to fighting a magical opponent, had tried to take her by surprise with his own flames – he hadn’t used any guns, just like she didn’t use any truly dangerous spells.

That one particular event had ended up with the two of them simply taking a nap outside for the rest of the day, too dazed by the tranquil aspect of their respective flames.

If they had been slightly giggling and pointing at clouds at some point, like two drugged idiots, well. No one had to know.

They did make sparing a regular thing, though. Luna had fun, and so did Colonnello. Having an opponent that treated it more like a game and that wasn’t familiar in their fighting style was nice. It was a challenge, and Colonnello hadn’t had one of those in years. It made him a bit curious about Skull’s fighting style, actually. (Because it was slowly dawning on him that Skull _had_ to be able to fight, magically at least, for all that he didn’t want to.)

It was almost two weeks into his stay that Colonnello found himself unable to sleep, thoughts of what he had left behind and what he hoped to find when going back keeping him awake. Thoughts of his life, and of Lal, and of plans that had broken down like a car in the middle of nowhere.

Somehow, he eventually found his way on the roof, lying down and just staring at the starry sky, alone with his thoughts.

He wasn’t too surprised to find Luna joining him barely twenty minutes later.

“It’s a nice night, isn’t it,” she greeted him, lying down next to him as if finding her guest on her roof in the middle of the night was perfectly normal. “You know, the centaurs think that the stars hold the answers to many things.”

“Do they?” Colonnello asked, not sure if he wanted to know or simply to be distracted from his thoughts.

“Oh, well, I don’t know,” Luna said, “I’ve never found the answers I was searching for in the stars.”

Colonnello let out a tiny laugh at that. Luna started humming a small, soft but cheery tune, something that he found soothing in it’s own way. He was getting way too used to Luna’s brand of odd.

After a while, she stopped humming, to talk instead.

“What is she called, the lady that you are falling for?” She asked, and Colonnello almost choked on air at the abruptness of the topic. Had he mentioned Lal before? He didn’t remember.

“Ah, um,” he coughed a little to hide his shock, “Lal. Lal Mirch.”

“It’s a pretty name,” Luna said, and Colonnello could almost hear the smile. “Is Lal as pretty as her name?”

“Yes,” the blond said, and couldn’t help his own sappy smile, “She is.”

And without prompting, or realizing, he started telling Luna about Lal. How he’d met her, their work together, the training. The first time he had flirted with her, mostly as a tease, and then how he’d fallen in love with her reactions and everything else about her. The good, the bad, the temper and the yelling and the angry embarrassed blush.

Then the shady offer for a job for Lal, and her growing more distant, a bit dazed. His petty jealousy when he had realized that she was courting a Sky and that she might _harmonize_ – when before, _before_ , both of them were in the same boat, thinking they had no chance at harmony, and depending on each other because Rains together was the next best thing.

The confusion, when he had realized he wasn’t sure if he was jealous of the unknown Sky, or of Lal herself. His decision to tail her, after a year of missions without him, and the walk up the mountain. Pushing Lal out of the way, unsuccessfully.

The Curse. His whole life, and hers, suddenly stuttering to a halt without much of an explanation. Denial, anger, never evolving and eventually simply settling down to an unsatisfying routine because _what else could he do_ and Lal and him walking different paths.

And then, after so long simply going through the motions, _hope_. And then, no more curse.

“I thought,” Colonnello said hoarsely, having talked a long time, “That with my going back to adult form, it would be fine. We would move past it- I proposed, you know, but then we had a fight, and she wanted some time apart...” He laughed, and it wasn’t a light sound. “I don’t even know. I just expected- It was supposed to be a plan. Simple. But now everything is crumbling, and I’m just realizing that I built _my entire life_ on that.”

He paused, gaze stubbornly stuck on the stars, as he sneered at the world at large, and mostly at himself. At his stupid foolishness.

“How _stupid_ is that?” He asked Luna – but he was asking no one in particular, really. “Building everything on one person, one decision. Of course it was going to crumble one day.”

“Did Lal build her own life on you too?” Luna asked quietly, for the first time since he had started talking.

“I- don’t know,” Colonnello said. “Maybe she didn’t, and even more the fool I.”

“I think she probably built it around you too,” Luna told him, and in a way it was good to hear her say it. “And she realized sooner, and now she wanted time to build herself back up without depending on you fully. I think it’s a good thing.”

“Is it?” Colonnello asked, bitterly. “I’m worse than a leech – I couldn’t even _think_ of living without her and-”

“But aren’t you doing the same?” Luna interrupted his self-pity party. “You are taking time to build yourself back up without her too, aren’t you?”

Oh.

Well, Colonnello supposed he _was_ , wasn’t he. Taking time off, doing new things, resourcing himself and now- talking about it, when before he couldn’t even talk about it without thinking of jumping in front of a high-speed moving train. He was learning to depend on other people, too, and not just antagonize them.

Maybe it was what had been needed, not only for Lal, but for him too. Because a relationship that was _this_ codependent couldn’t be healthy. So making sure they could live without each other, before maybe eventually working to getting back together was good. Wasn’t it? But then again-

“She’ll realize that I’m not her only choice anymore,” Colonnello said miserably, “When we were both cursed, we were in the same boat, and we _had_ to be together because we had only each other as a common point. But now...”

“That’s silly,” Luna told him, cutting once more through his misery. “A relationship like that doesn’t stop just because there isn’t the same bond as before. You told me that she almost had a Sky, once. But she always went back to you, didn’t she, at the end of the day?”

That was true. Lal had always checked on him, and gone back to him eventually. They would fight and have trouble, and along the years there had been a _lot_ of that, but they always managed to push past it, because it was just- Lal and him. Together, even when they were apart.

He had once joked that, since they both couldn’t get a Sky, being too powerful for that, then they would have to settle for being each other’s Rain, and maybe together they would manage to become a body of water large enough to reflect the Sky and make their own place in the world.

_Who needs Harmony_ , he had told an amused Lal, grinning at her, _when you can have a nice, Tranquil puddle?_

_Idiot,_ she had snorted, _you’re drunk_.

...He had probably been, although he had always been very bad with words, even sober.

“Say, Luna,” he said, suddenly struck by a thought, “You don’t have a Sky, do you?”

“I had one,” Luna told him, and Colonnello’s eyes widened a little – because _past tense_.

“Oh,” he said awkwardly, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Oh, he’s not dead,” Luna said, smiling softly but sadly, “He just broke. Even the strongest Sky can only carry so much, after all. He always tried to give so much of himself, you know, and eventually he had to give up too much.” She went on, fondly. “He still does, you know. He’s always so ready to forgive and accept all of us, and give us a home. He just does it differently, now.”

Colonnello couldn’t say anything to that, because he wasn’t sure he could. What she was talking about- a Sky _breaking_ , it was something that was only rumoured to exist. People whispered about Skies that Shattered, somehow going through something so traumatic that it ripped them apart, broke their very soul. It forcefully broke every bond they had, and that sort of thing, to a Sky, to a being of _Harmony_ -

Shattered Skies only ever ended two ways. Completely mad, or dead.

Yet Luna was implying that her Sky wasn’t either. Neither mad, nor dead, still here for her and whomever the other elements of his set had been.

Was that what she had meant, about relationships that stayed even if the bonds changed? He couldn’t even imagine having a harmony bond that snapped, and yet being able to stay friend with that person. A different bond, but a bond nonetheless.

Maybe it was the point she was trying to make. That change wasn’t always bad, and that even when things seemed broken they weren’t impossible to fix.

“You’re- happy with that?” He eventually settled on asking.

“I am,” Luna said, “Even now that he isn’t my Sky anymore, he still acts like it, and never lets me get lonely. I miss it a little, sometimes. But it was a long time ago. I like how things are now. I wouldn’t change it.”

“That’s good then,” Colonnello murmured.

“You know, it never does any good to dwell on the past, and forget how to live,” Luna said. She added chirpily, “That’s what Harry told me, once. I don’t know who told him that, I think it’s good advice.”

“ _Skull_ said that?” Colonnello said, before smiling a little, previous topic of Shattered Skies forgotten. “I guess I can see him say something annoyingly cryptic like that.”

Annoyingly cryptic, but true, he guessed.

It wasn’t until the next morning that Colonnello realized that he felt lighter, like a burden had been taken off his shoulders. Like sharing all of this, talking about it, had actually really helped. Luna greeted him with a happy smile, that morning, as if she knew exactly how he felt, and he grinned back at her.

Maybe he _should_ stop dwelling on the past, and live a little.

Lal, wherever she was, would probably knock him on the head for getting so wrapped in misery that he forgot to enjoy life.

And maybe, once he was ready, he would find her again, and ask her to go enjoy it together for a while.

* * *

THE END

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is it, folks! The end!
> 
> Now, I hope the ending was as hoped. As I've said many times, this fic wasn't meant to be anything pretentious, and not really a 'reveal fic' in the traditional sense of the term. It was MY take on the trope, and I was more interested in developing characters and interactions. Friendship and Found Family for the win!
> 
> For those of you that are probably curious - yes, Colonello eventually goes back to Lal, they work it out, and they then get married. But it'll take time and effort, and a lot of communication, and a lot of stuff that I don't feel like writing. Still, Colonello is in a better place now than he was post-curse breaking, and it can only get better for anything he sets out to do.  
> (Although you'll notice that it's open ended enough that those of you that'd rather colonello and lal didn't get back together, well, you can imagine they don't)
> 
> I might eventually come back to this verse to write some more. (MIGHT, MIGHT DO, PLEASE DON'T HARASS ME ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I WILL STOP WRITING IN THIS VERSE IF I GET A SINGLE 'when is the next part coming? I want it noooowww ;(' OR 'please update' IN THE COMMENTS)  
> I'm NOT promising anything. If I write more, it will be on MY terms, about what I WANT to see in this verse. I honestly haven't planned any reveal for the other arcobalenos, or anything else really. And I don't think I'll ever do it.  
> If I do anything, it might be small snippets. Slice of life, flashes into adventures, random scenes and situations that I think would be interesting. Maybe more Colonello? Who knows.
> 
> Anyways! Leave a comment if you enjoyed this fic! I can't answer all of them, but if I get the time and you have questions that haven't been answered then I'll try to answer!
> 
> Cheers folks!


End file.
